Monday, April 20, 2009

MSU Race Weekend

This weekend I journeyed six hours to Wichita Falls, Texas, the home of MSU. I was pretty excited to get to do a collegiate race because they are always a lot of fun and pretty low-key. Collegiate races also remind me why I dedicate my time and efforts into the organization even when I'm unable participate as often these days.

Saturday's road race started at a grueling 7:30am but luckily the women's A field of six (4 MSU, 1 A&M, and me) was combined with the men's B field. It was fun racing with the guys and a good time for me to practice jumping with attacks and work on positioning and taking wheels and stuff. By the end of the 4th lap, I was the only girl left, so mostly John (I helped a bit) worked to keep the pace high and keep those girls from catching back on. I attacked in the last 1k (hey, I had to try something- I'm not a stellar sprinter!) but was swarmed. Fun.

The time trial was in the late afternoon/early evening and, boy, it was windy! The course was pretty flat so I enjoyed getting to go fast(er) ;-) I ended up passing three girls, but still fell short of my time goal, so mixed feelings on that one.

The crit on Sunday ended up being separated from the guys. If you've ever done a crit with six people total where you are outnumbered 4:1 you know how lame that is. Nathan had me do LT intervals during the crit which made me drop and lap all but one who sat on the entire race (lame and boring) and sprinted around at the end. I didn't care though...my intervals went great and I won GC by over 15 minutes.

One of the primes I won was for a bike pump...not just any old bike pump...check it out:

Jacob called this "cute." I've never considered trying to be "cute" while doing bike-related activities. Seems silly.

Yes and check out the intricate, tropical-flower design.

Yep there is even one on the gauge!

I feel like my legs are coming back after being sick, so that's awesome! This week is the last full week of classes I'll be here for, so I'm booked all week with school and UT Cycling stuff! I'll be heading to Dallas Friday for some Matrix Crit action and off to Speed Week!